DAVIDSON, NC — When Curt Cignetti was hired at Indiana as the school’s head football coach two years ago from James Madison, he famously said at his introductory press conference, “It’s pretty simple. I win. Google me.”

If she wanted to, George Mason women’s basketball coach Vanessa Blair-Lewis could make the same declaration.

Last Wednesday, her Patriots defeated Davidson 62-51, notching their second win ever at the Wildcats’ Belk Arena. The Patriots then picked up a 66-51 home win on Saturday over Saint Louis, and these victories extended their win streak to nine games and improved their record in the Atlantic 10 to 10-0 — the best start in program history.

With 27 years of experience, Blair-Lewis is the longest tenured Black female head coach in Division I women’s college basketball. She guided her alma mater Mount St. Mary’s to a pair of regular season championships, won the MEAC five times at Bethune-Cookman and got George Mason into the NCAA Tournament for the first time last season. She’s won more than 400 games and captured championships at places where doing so is incredibly rare.

Blair-Lewis has accomplished all of this not by cooking up a unique defensive scheme or imaginative actions on offense, but by always putting her people first.

“For us, it’s always been the player inside the jersey. We really care about our young women,” Blair-Lewis told USA Today Sports. “I care about them in the leaders that they are growing in to be. And make no mistake about it, I coach leaders. I want these women to know that they can — they have the ability to lead.

“I want basketball to be a place, a sacred place, where you can come to know that, no matter what happened during the day — no matter how hard classes were, or the outside world or social media, or whatever pressures you feel — that you can come here and this can be a place where you can just feel cared about. You can feel loved.”

Blair-Lewis’ career planning had never involved coaching. After playing for her father Robert Blair at Largo High School in Prince George’s County, Maryland, she went to the state’s northern border and starred at Mount St. Mary’s where she was twice named Northeast Conference Player of the Year. She played professionally for two years in Sweden, then came home to try out for the Washington Mystics in the infancy of the WNBA. After getting cut, her plan was to go to law school. Instead, her father and her college coach, Bill Sheahan, talked her into giving coaching a try.

As her third season as an assistant coach at Mount St. Mary’s was beginning, a 24-year-old Blair-Lewis was still thinking about law school. And then, two months before the season was going to start, Sheahan walked into her office to deliver some news: He was retiring, effective immediately, and the press conference to introduce her as the next head coach was scheduled.

Stunned, Blair-Lewis closed the door and called her dad.

“Dad,” she said, “I don’t want to do this.”

“You don’t know you don’t want to do this yet,” he told her, “but you’re going to be great.”

“Yeah, but Dad, I wanted to go to law school.”

“Yeah, we make our plans, and God laughs, this is what you’re going to do.”

Coaching came naturally. Mount St. Mary’s enjoyed three consecutive winning seasons in her first few years at the helm. After nine years leading her alma mater, she resigned in 2007 to spend time with her family, but ultimately couldn’t resist the pull of the basketball court.

A year later, she was hired at Bethune-Cookman, an HBCU in Daytona Beach, Florida, and built the program into one that won five consecutive conference championships from 2016 through 2020. She was named the conference’s Coach of the Year four times.

The staff that helped Blair-Lewis transform Bethune-Cookman into a powerhouse in the MEAC came with her when she was hired in 2021 to revive a George Mason program that went 0-14 in Atlantic 10 play in the year before she arrived.

One of the first things Blair-Lewis did when she arrived was have a banner made for the Patriots’ practice facility. There was a big one in there to honor the historic run to the 2006 Final Four by George Mason’s men’s team, but none existed for the women because they had no conference titles or March Madness appearances. Blair-Lewis quickly hung a banner that said “FUTURE ATLANTIC-10 CHAMPIONS.”

“When we took the job, our motto was ‘believe big.’ And the girls were like, ‘Believe in what? There’s nothing here,’” Blair-Lewis recalls. “Isn’t that what faith is all about, believing in something that you can’t see? And so that’s when I hung the banner in the practice facility. I wanted them to see this every single day of who they were aspiring to be, not what they were.”

Last season, the Patriots got to replace that inspirational symbol with something real. Across three days in Henrico, Virginia, George Mason won three games — all by double figures — to capture its first conference championship and punch its ticket to the NCAA Tournament.

To find similar success this season, Blair-Lewis knew she needed to challenge her team early. She put together a non-conference schedule that featured matchups against Maryland and Ole Miss and consistently strong mid-major programs that have played in the NCAA Tournament in recent years, including Liberty, James Madison, Murray State, Florida Gulf Coast and Princeton. The Patriots finished that non-conference slate with at 5-6 — with three losses by two possessions or less — but Blair-Lewis learned a lot about her team and made adjustments for the A-10, which could get multiple NCAA Tournament bids for the second straight season.

“It was definitely intentional,” Blair-Lewis said of the makeup of the Patriots’ non-conference schedule. “Last year, I don’t think it was until we got to the conference that we really started learning about our team. And it’s a tough way to learn some lessons, once you’re in the heat of battle. So, I knew that this year we wanted to go into the conference knowing as much as we could about our team, even if it meant that we wouldn’t go in with as many victories. You saw the resilience. The team didn’t let it break them. They got back up the next day and we just kept fighting.”

Blair-Lewis tweaked the team motto just a bit, adding a No. 2 in parentheses like a mathematical equation: Believe Big Squared.

“It’s exponential growth in the right direction of doing better than what we’ve done before, and squaring ourselves to do it,” Blair-Lewis explains.

One of the players who has taken a leap forward for George Mason is Zahirah Walton, who has raised her scoring average by four points and improved her field goal percentage. She’s one of 18 players nationally averaging at least 19 points, five rebounds, one assist and one steal per game.

Collectively, George Mason’s strength has been its defense. The Patriots rank fourth in the nation in defending the 3-pointer, allowing their opponents to shoot 24.4% from behind the arc. Passing through the Patriots’ defense has proven to be difficult too, as opponents have an average 0.56 assist-turnover ratio against them, which ranks 31st nationally.

Nearly 30 years after she first became a head coach, Blair-Lewis often thinks about Sheahan’s surprise retirement and the phone call she had with her dad.

“He wasn’t wrong,” she says. “I don’t believe I was great alone and I’m not. I was great because I have really great people in my life.”

• A USA TODAY analysis found thousands of underage bettors are caught annually by legalized sportsbooks.
• While sportsbooks file fraud reports with state regulators, consequences are rare, typically resulting only in a ban from the app.

Seventy-five dollars is all Sam needed for his next round of sports bets on his BetMGM app.

Well – it wasn’t officially his. He was 17 years old, and the legal gambling age in his home state of Arizona is 21. Sam used his mom’s ID behind her back to create the account where he’d bet on basketball and football games.

Except she found him out and reported him to the company.

BetMGM opened an investigation and found Sam had deposited $75 into the account with two ApplePay accounts. Investigators tracked his iPhone 13 to his home, but also the local high school where Sam had placed his bets. They banned the account and wrote up a report for state authorities.

But as soon as he was 21, Sam was back at it. Gambling on the apps again.

He’s just one of thousands of underage bettors caught annually by legalized sportsbooks like DraftKings and FanDuel. They collectively bet millions of dollars illegally, a new analysis shows. USA TODAY obtained and reviewed hundreds of the “suspected fraud reports” required by state regulators coast-to-coast to gauge the scale of the problem.

And while that oversight generates a mountain of paperwork documenting the fraud, virtually no one faces more serious consequences than a ban from the apps. Pending class action lawsuits alleged companies like DraftKings groom young men on their sites so they’re ready when they become 21.

Since the Supreme Court widely legalized sports wagering in 2018, the nation’s appetite for bets has flourished. U.S. bettors laid out about $160 billion in 2025 on sports, according to the outlet Legal Sports Report, creating revenue of about $16 billion. For perspective, an analyst pointed out Americans risked more on bets than they spend annually on movies, books, concerts and professional sports tickets — combined. On Feb. 8, Super Bowl 60 is anticipated to attract $1.7 billion in legal U.S. wagers.

The most coveted and lucrative market, young men 21-34, accounts for more than half of the bets placed on most sites. About 60% of those bettors place at least three bets per week.

Marketing for top sportsbooks floods the airwaves and casts a giant net for customers that critics say has lured high schoolers, college kids, as well as those legally allowed to bet. Experts worry watching sports has become conflated with betting the lines.

The underage fraud reports break into three buckets:

• Parents claimed children as young as 1-year-old accessed their account and placed wagers. In those cases, sportsbooks usually refund bets and ban the users.
• Underage bettors gain access using a relative’s account with or without their consent. This is the most common case of underage fraud.
• Underage bettors use an entirely stolen identity to create and operate accounts – this includes serious examples of fraud with deceased individuals’ social security numbers.

The sportsbooks say they’re doing everything possible and have robust KYC, Know Your Customer protocols. And yet, kids and teens are finding loopholes and tricks.

Betting on sites like DraftKings represents just a piece of the overall sports wagering landscape that includes other illegal routes for kids like offshore websites and in-person bookies with no age verification. Savvy kids are also finding their way to crypto “sweepstakes” sites and emerging prediction platforms with little or no age requirements. 

Amount of youth wagering hard to pin down

The scale of underage betting is hard to measure. By one high-end estimate by McGill University, 60 to 80 percent of high schoolers gamble at least once in a given year with a smaller portion, less than 10% addicted or at-risk of developing a problem. 

What’s easier to measure: the amount of underage reports filed with state regulators, as required by most state laws. USA TODAY obtained the reports from ten states, including some from Missouri, where sports wagering just went live Dec. 1.

State regulators in other states said the reports are considered confidential or not required, obscuring the scale of the problem they’ve pledged to prevent.

In Iowa, 84 reports of underage betting were sent to the state’s Division of Criminal Investigation − but it’s unclear if any got charged.

In Tennessee, sportsbooks notified the state’s Sports Wagering Council of 105 underage account usages in 2024. Last year, that number more than quadrupled. The council refers more than half of the reports to local district attorneys, but most take no action.

In Massachusetts, the state’s gaming commission requires companies to present data on underage access quarterly in public meetings.

DraftKings reported more than 4,807 underage registration attempts stopped last year and suspended 243 accounts that had placed illegal wagers in the state. FanDuel reported 186 attempts stopped and 330 suspensions.

“We’ve got to figure this out because this isn’t getting any better, it’s getting worse,” Massachusetts’ Gaming Commission Chair Jordan Maynard said at a January meeting reaction to DraftKings’ report.

In Ohio, the state reports the dollar amounts associated with suspected underage accounts.

The Casino Control Commission told USA TODAY DraftKings by far had the most reports with 620, accounting for $2.78 million in wagers by suspected underage users since 2023. FanDuel had 162 underage reports, accounting for $63,152 in bets.

Both companies declined to answer questions about the total illegal amount wagered nationwide, but pointed out the suspended accounts would include the historical wagers on an account, so if it was illegally shared by an underage proxy better, it’s possible legal bets would be reported as well.

Underage bets also likely represent a tiny fraction of a company’s overall sportsbook handle, or wagers. But critics say DraftKings uses fantasy contests, legal at 18 in most places, to create a funnel to their lucrative 21-34 customer base. In the first nine months of 2025, DraftKings’ sportsbook reported $36.8 billion in bets, up 11% from the prior year.

‘DraftKings employs advanced Know Your Customer (KYC) technology trusted by the financial industry and law enforcement to verify the age and identity of our customers, in sharp contrast to predatory illegal and offshore operators,” said Stephen Miraglia a DraftKings spokesman. “Every sports wagering law and regulation establishes an age of eligibility, and DraftKings strictly adheres to these requirements in every jurisdiction in which we operate.”

FanDuel’s Cory Fox, senior vice president of public policy and sustainability, said the company has a “zero tolerance policy” for underage gambling and uses monitoring tools to identify misuse.

“When suspicious activity is detected, the company takes appropriate action, which can include restricting or closing accounts and reporting issues to law enforcement or regulators as required by law,” Fox said.

In 2025, FanDuel launched a “Trusted Voices” program aimed at educating parents and helping them talk to their children about gambling.

Wagers represent millions in illegal bets

Arizona alone provided nearly 300 of the underage fraud reports dating back to 2021 to USA TODAY.

This includes Brody’s story, a 16-year-old DraftKings customer.

Brody, who the paper is not identifying as he was a minor at the time, logged into the app to place a few wagers in 2024. He used an account with his dad’s name and credentials.

He made a critical error: depositing cash with his bank account, which showed he was underaged.

Mismatched names between the accounts triggered a red flag that led the betting giant’s fraud investigations unit to scrutinize the account. DraftKings swiftly used commercial data broker LexisNexis to identify Brody, his father, and soon located his high school page.

When reached on the phone, Brody’s father declined to speak to USA TODAY, expressing concern that the illegal betting could negatively impact his future college prospects. He was not charged with any crime.

Sam’s mother, Gloria spoke to USA TODAY about her experience turning her son in. Her last name is being withheld to not identify her son who was a minor at the time.

She said she was upset that the company didn’t have better safeguards to prevent it.

“I told him at the time: that’s it. This is done” Gloria told USA TODAY. “He tried to tell me how much money he was making, but that’s not the point. I was hardline, wait until you’re 21.”

Another report identified a highly-coveted frequent gambler assigned a personal host, who used BetMGM’s mobile apps to wager on sports. He was going out of town and messaged his VIP handler that his 18-year-old son would be wagering for him. The betting age in Arizona is 21. That triggered an investigation, lifetime ban and fraud report to the state. The illegal activity was filed away in Arizona’s system. The father told USA TODAY he simply didn’t understand the state’s law.

Some teens have been caught based on companies tracking their cell phones with the company GeoComply down to their high schools. Others tried using high school checking accounts triggering suspicion.

Arizona officials boast a robust paperwork collection protocol aimed to prevent, detect and stop underage gambling, said Suzanne Trainor, a Department of Gaming spokesperson.

“If a review identifies potential violations of statute, rule, or license conditions, the Department may take regulatory action against the operator, which can include corrective action plans, enforcement action, or other regulatory remedies as appropriate,” Trainor said.

They can also pass criminal referrals to law enforcement or prosecutors. Asked how many times punitive action has been taken against either patrons, underagers or companies,  Arizona officials confirmed the total since 2021 is zero.

Regulators can only push so far

The way the legalized markets has burgeoned in the United States has created some odd realities, said Les Bernal, national director of the group Stop Predatory Gambling.

“State governments are partners to this industry and can’t push too hard because they’re making so much money. They’re like the arsonists and firefighters at the same time,” Bernal said.

Plus, most of the research and work around problem gambling is funding by the industry itself, again, “it’s like putting Dracula in charge of the blood bank.”

Bernal believes the country is facing a predictable epidemic of teens, kids and mostly young men who have normalized sports betting.

“We saw it in the United Kingdom and Australia, kids grow up today thinking sports and gambling are one in the same. You’re not a sports fan if you’re not wagering. It’s a transformative experience and it’s dangerous.”

The latest information from the National Council on Problem Gambling shows adolescent problem gambling leads to a complex mix of criminal behavior, poor academic achievement, truancy, financial problems, depression, suicide and substance abuse.

That leaves people like Maynard in Massachusetts partnering with the state’s attorney general to push legal operators to be better, while attempting to crack down on illegal markets.

And while they count the number of underage fraud reports and forward some to law enforcement, “I don’t think we should be putting kids in jail over this. It’s an opportunity to educate them and parents about harmful behavior,” Maynard said in an interview with USA TODAY.

“We have to use the regulatory toolbox and bully pulpit in our public meetings to be honest about this problem and what we can realistically do to tackle it,” he said.

Massachusetts has targeted limits on advertising, “to ensure Disney on Ice doesn’t have DraftKings ads next to it” and to monitor any advertising that is false and misleading. Sportsbooks have been targeted for “Can’t lose” parlays and “risk free bets’ by regulators and lawsuits.

“Is it worth it? Yeah, I know it’s an expense to the operators to count underage access, but the aim and goal of zero is worth it,” Maynard said. “Why are we here? Why do we exist: why am I doing this? It’s to make a difference.”

Tennessee is piloting a new intervention program from young people caught gambling, said Jim Whelan, executive director of the Tennessee Institute for Gambling Education and Research at the University of Memphis.

It funnels kids into a 2 ½ hour online assessment in lieu of the misdemeanor and $50 fine.

“The top two predictors of adult problem gambling are: you have a parent with a gambling problem and starting at a young age,” Whelan said. “Kids watching sports are inundated, so we need to help then learn how to manage that exposure.”

Youth voices have suggested solutions

Problem gambling agencies are slowly adapting tipsheets for parents, curricula for teachers and recruiting young voices to tell their stories to kids.

The New Jersey native said he battled a gambling addiction for the last six years, spending about eight hours per day on sportsbooks and online casinos.

“I don’t think a punitive approach to kids gambling will help, we have to work toward counter-messaging because FanDuel and DraftKings have great KYC, but a billion dollar marketing campaign,” Minnick said. 

His message: You will lose betting on sports, and addiction can happen and needs to be taken seriously. He had to find group support, set-up financial controls (he went so far as to turn over his bank accounts to his mother) and sign up for self-exclusion lists.

Isaac Rose-Berman, 25, is a professional young gambler who has increasingly used his voice to warn about sports betting. He’s a fellow at the American Institute for Boys and Men who consulted on a study out last week by the nonprofit child protection group Common Sense Media.

The survey polled 1,017 boys nationwide 11 to 17 years old in July 2025. Of that group, 36% reported gambling in the last year. A third of the 11-year-olds reported wagering and nearly half of the 17-year-olds had. Most encountered ads for the platforms via social media and streaming video on YouTube.

Researchers found the teens were generally wagering small amounts: $54 on average across all teens who spent money on gambling over a year.

‘I only do things like that for fun,” a 16-year-old told the researchers. “I feel like I have enough willpower to quit any time. I think it’s very fun to do when you can limit yourself.”

Rose-Berman advocates for two policy changes: a crackdown on online casinos, legal in seven states and a restriction on ads.

“I just think you should be able to watch sports without the constant barrage of gambling ads,” Rose-Berman said. “Why don’t we have cigarette ads on TV? Because more than 10% of the audience is underage.”

While the youngest gamblers likely aren’t facing financial ruin — he worries the habits are having an impact on the social fabric of young society.

He can relate to the young men who wake up in the morning and immediately check their picks and constantly think about lines, like Sam, the Arizona teen once outed by his mother.

“It’s the stupidest thing ever, especially if you don’t have a lot of extra money to spend,” Gloria said. “He knows how I feel about it.”

Nick Penzenstadler is a reporter on USA TODAY’s investigative team working on national projects. Tips or questions? You can contact him via e-mail npenz@usatoday.com or on Signal at 720-507-5273

Step up to the plate: The 2026 softball season is here.

Texas won its first national championship in program history after defeating instate rival Texas Tech in a winner take all Game 3 in the 2025 NCAA Tournament. But the Red Raiders are ranked No. 1 in at least one preseason poll on the strength of NiJaree Canady’s right arm and the team’s top-ranked transfer class.

‘Obviously it will be very difficult to improve upon our 2025 season, but as a staff we feel like we have made tremendous improvements as we enter our second season at Texas Tech,’ head coach Gerry Glasco said.

Here’s five storylines heading into the 2026 softball season, including some early player of the year nominations:

NEBRASKA softball coach refuses to project ceiling for Huskers’ season

Who won the transfer portal?

The addition of Stanford transfer NiJaree Canady paid instant dividends for Texas Tech in Gerry Glasco’s first season as head coach. The Red Raiders made their first Women’s College World Series appearance last season and fell just short of the program’s first national championship as runner-up to Texas.

Don’t be surprised to see Texas Tech back in Oklahoma City. The Red Raiders reloaded their roster with a top transfer class that brings depth at the pitcher position and extra pop to the lineup. The seven newcomers combined for 105 home runs last season, an upgrade from Texas Tech’s 60 homers.

Texas Tech added All-Americans Mia Williams (Florida), Taylor Pannell (Tennessee) and Jasmyn Burn (Ohio State), plus Kaitlyn Terry (UCLA), Lagi Quiroga (Cal) and Jackie Lis and Desirae Spearman (Southern Illinois).

‘We wanted to add depth and experience in as many places as possible as we try to win the national championship,’ Glasco said.

Can Texas defend championship?

The Longhorns are in prime position to repeat with many contributors of their championship squad returning. Sure, the departure of senior third baseman Mia Scott is a blow, but Texas will have continuity in the circle with ace pitcher Teagan Kavan and catcher Reese Atwood back. Kavan had a 28-5 record with a 2.16 ERA and 230 strikeouts last season, while Atwood was named the NFCA Catcher of the Year after leading the team in home runs (21), RBIs (89), slugging percentage (.822) and walks (41).

Atwood and Kavan are among 10 players from Texas’ championship squad that are coming back. Four of those players — Atwood, Kavan, Kayden Henry and Katie Stewart — were named to the 2026 preseason All-SEC Team selected by a vote of the conference’s 15 head coaches. Texas’ four selections tie Oklahoma for the most. The Longhorns were also picked to win the 2026 SEC Championship.

The Longhorns will also get a boost from the return of shortstop Viviana Martinez, who was sidelined the entire 2025 season with an injury. Martinez started 61 games in 2024 and had a .376 batting average with 70 hits, 52 RBIs and 46 runs.

Texas led the nation in hits (630) last season and its lineup will be even more dangerous with the additions of transfers Kaiah Altmeyer (Arizona), Taylor Anderson (Oklahoma State) and Brenlee Gonzales (Texas Tech).

What’s up with Oklahoma this season?

Oklahoma’s reign of four consecutive national titles ended last season, but the Sooners look to return to softball supremacy with a squad that features a mix of veterans, the top-ranked 2026 recruiting class and key transfers.

Let’s start in the circle. Right-handed pitcher Sam Landry was the Sooners’ ace last season with 191.2 total innings pitched, 114 more innings than left-handed pitcher Kierston Deal. With Landry having graduated, Deal will most likely get the ball and look to bounce back from a down year, where her ERA was up and strikeouts were down. She posted a 10-2 record with 50 strikeouts and a 3.42 ERA in 77.2 innings last season, compared to her 1.97 ERA and 68 strikeouts in 78.1 innings in 2024. Oklahoma head coach Patty Gasso brought in reinforcements with transfer pitcher Sydney Berzon, who recorded a 18-8 record and 2.46 ERA as LSU’s ace in 2025.

That’s not the only additions. Oklahoma’s recruiting class includes Keegan Baker, Ki’ele Ho-Ching, Jerrell ‘Ori’ Mailo, Malaya Majam-Finch, Ella Kate ‘EK’ Smith and Payton Westra. 

‘This is one of the best incoming freshman classes that we’ve had in a while,’ Gasso said. ‘There’s a little bit of everything from pitching to great defense, but some big time hitters are going to make this offense powerful and elite. All of these athletes fit the championship mindset mentality.’

We can’t forget about the returning Oklahoma players. Gabbie Garcia, Nelly McEnroe-Marinas, Ella Parker and Kasidi Pickering were all named to the 2026 All-SEC team. Despite battling an injury much of the season, Parker hit 15 homers and drove in 53 runs while batting .423.

Player of the Year candidates

• Texas Tech pitcher NiJaree Canady: The 6-foot right-handed senior was unanimously named to the Big 12 preseason team after posting a 1.11 ERA last season and leading the Red Raiders with 11 home runs. Canady was named to the USA Softball 2026 Collegiate Player of the Year watch list. She was one of three finalists in for the award in 2025 after winning it in 2024 at Stanford.
• Texas catcher Reese Atwood: The 6-foot senior became the first Longhorns player to hit 20 or more home runs in back-to-back seasons and led the nation in with 89 RBIs, the second most in program history behind her own 90 mark in 2024. She was also solid behind the plate and posted a .988 fielding percentage with 313 putouts, 18 assists and four errors.
• Nebraska pitcher Jordy Frahm: The 5-foot-8 two-way player recorded 23 homers and a .462 batting average last season, in addition to 286 strikeouts and a 1.56 ERA. She was named Big Ten Player of the Year and Big Ten Pitcher of the Year, becoming the first player to earn both in the same season.
• Tennessee pitcher Karlyn Pickens: The 6-foot-1 senior pitched over 226.2 innings last season and posted a 25–11 record with a 1.17 ERA and 306 strikeouts. She was named SEC Pitcher of the Year after leading the conference in ERA, games started (34), complete games (25), shutouts (7), innings pitched and strikeouts.

How much more parity is there in softball?

No. 1 overall seed Texas A&M was upset in its home regional in College Station, Texas, by Liberty in the postseason, marking the first time in history the top overall seed failed to advance out of its own regional.

The defeat highlights the growing parity in college softball, which can be tied directly to the transfer portal and NIL money being poured into programs. Landing a star player can change a program’s entire trajectory.

Texas Tech won the program’s first Big 12 championship and made its first WCWS appearance following the addition of NiJaree Canady in the transfer portal. It was made possible by Canady’s landmark NIL deal which paid her upwards of $1M, believed to be the largest in softball history. Canady landed another deal for the 2026 season and helped attract the team’s top transfer class.

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Though a team from outside of men’s college basketball’s five biggest conferences hasn’t won a national championship since UConn in 2014 — and even that feels like a bit of a technicality for a school that was one year removed from being in the Big East — several teams from those leagues have made their presence felt nationally this season.

As has been the case for much of this century, Gonzaga’s in the middle of the discussion in the sport, with a 22-1 record and a No. 5 ranking in the latest USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll.  No. 20 Saint Louis has been equally impressive, with only a one-point loss to Stanford in late November separating coach Josh Schertz’s team from perfection. No. 24 Miami (Ohio) is one of only two undefeated teams remaining at the Division I level, along with No. 1 Arizona,

They’re hardly alone, either. In a sport that longs for Cinderellas, there are plenty of viable contenders outside the five largest conferences as the sport’s calendar turns to February.

How do these teams measure up?

Here’s a look at the latest power rankings of men’s basketball teams from outside the sport’s five majors leagues (the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Big East and SEC):

College basketball mid-major power rankings

1. Gonzaga (22-1)

In the latest installment of one of the sport’s best rivalries, the Bulldogs knocked off visiting Saint Mary’s 73-65 on January 30 behind 30 points from Graham Ike. The two sides will meet again on February 28 in Moraga, California. With Gonzaga off to the Pac-12 next season, let’s hope it finds a way to match up against the Gaels sooner rather than later.

2. Saint Louis (21-1)

The Billikens needed a 3-pointer from Robbie Avila with three seconds remaining to get past George Washington, but they looked much sharper in a 102-71 drubbing of Dayton three nights later. After the win, Schertz was at a campus bar serving and knocking back blue-colored shots with a bunch of patrons soaking in Saint Louis’ best season in at least a decade.

3. Miami-Ohio (22-0)

Coach Travis Steele’s team keeps on winning, with a narrow victory over UMass followed up by a 24-point rout of Northern Illinois. The win against the Huskies was played in front of 10,640 fans, the largest crowd ever at 57-year-old Millett Hall, the RedHawks’ home arena.

4. Utah State (18-3)

Since dropping back-to-back games to UNLV and Grand Canyon, the Aggies have won three in a row. The last of those victories came last Saturday against San Diego State, with forward Karson Templin coming off the bench for 18 points, seven rebounds, two steals and two blocks.

5. Santa Clara (19-5)

The Broncos have won 10 of their past 11 after a 9-4 start to the season, a run punctuated last Saturday with a 104-73 victory at Loyola Marymount. Senior guard Brenton Knapper had 22 points and five steals in the victory.

6. Saint Mary’s (19-4)

Even in a heated rivalry, there’s no shame in losing on the road to Gonzaga, especially for a Gaels team that has the chance to stack up some wins over the next few weeks before wrapping up the regular season with home games against Gonzaga and Santa Clara.

7. New Mexico (18-4)

In a college basketball season dominated by superstar freshmen, the Lobos have a talented newcomer of their own. Freshman big man Tomislav Buljan has recorded a double-double in each of his team’s past five games, a stretch in which he’s averaging 15.6 points and 12 rebounds per game while shooting 58.5% from the field.

8. San Diego State (15-6)

The Aztecs have dropped two of their past four games after starting the season 13-4. It should only be so much of a cause for concern. The losses both came on the road and were decided by a combined six points against two of the Mountain West’s best teams (Utah State and Grand Canyon).

9. George Mason (20-2)

Guard Kory Mincy has been on fire of late for the Patriots, averaging 20 points per game over his team’s past three contests. In those games, he has made 10 of his 21 3-point attempts (47.6%).

10. Akron (18-4)

The Zips got within two wins of their fifth-straight 20-win season in style. In a 17-point victory against rival Kent State, Akron got 16 points, nine rebounds and four assists from Tavari Johnson while the Golden Flashes misfired on all but one of their 23 attempts from 3.

Across the NCAA, 37 of the top players departed for Olympic national teams, and another handful will find themselves at a six-nations tournament in Austria. 

The change stripped NCAA hockey of seven of the top 10 scorers nationally, with major programs like Wisconsin, Minnesota and Ohio State playing with shortened benches due to their absences.The Olympic women’s hockey tournament lasts from Thursday, Feb. 5 to Thursday, Feb. 19. The six-nations tournament in Austria, meanwhile, started on Monday and ends Feb. 8. But women’s college hockey continues, with games every week in that span.

Here’s a look at the top 10 NCAA women’s hockey programs this week:

Women’s college hockey power rankings

1. University of Wisconsin (WCHA)

After dropping its first game of the weekend to Minnesota, Wisconsin’s team responded well despite being without its top players. The Badgers got key performances from forwards Lacey Eden and Cassie Hall, as well as defender Vivian Jungels, who all had multi-point nights in their 6-1 win to close out the weekend.

2. Ohio State University (WCHA)

Despite dressing only five defenders and eight forwards, Ohio State swept Minnesota-Duluth, whose struggles continued this past weekend. Few have been better in NCAA hockey in the last month than Jocelyn Amos, who scored four goals this past weekend for the Buckeyes. It was also netminder Hailey MacLeod’s most consistent back-to-back showings to date, which should give OSU fans hope for the home stretch.

3. University of Minnesota (WCHA)

Minnesota fans should be hopeful for the future. With their youth leading, the Gophers took the opener of their series 3-2 over No. 1 Wisconsin. They couldn’t replicate it in the second game of the series, but without Abbey Murphy, Josefin Bouveng, Nelli Laitinen and others, it was a tall order to face Wisconsin, even without its Olympians.

4. Penn State (AHA)

It was against Robert Morris, but sweeping a weekend series without captain and program superstar Tessa Janecke is still important. Game 1 of their series was a rare outdoor game at Beaver Stadium. Rookie defender Danica Maynard continues to emerge as one of the nation’s best offensive defenders. She’s a smooth skater with deceptive puck skills.

5. Northeastern (Hockey East)

Holy Cross gave Northeastern as much as it could handle last weekend with a pair of one-goal decisions in favor of the Huskies. It was as much a sign of Holy Cross’ growth as it was a negative about Northeastern. Defender Jules Constantinople had an exceptional weekend, including a late-tying goal in the series opener, and rookie Stryker Zablocki continues to make a name for herself, flashing her speed and offensive capabilities.

6. Princeton (ECAC)

Princeton has one of the best top lines in the nation with Mackenzie Alexander, who scored in the Tigers’ wins over Clarkson and St. Lawrence, and Issy Wunder. Princeton, however, is not a one-trick pony. They have received contributions from up and down their lineup, and this season, one of the biggest difference-makers has been netminder Uma Corniea. This past weekend, she stopped 73 of the 74 shots she faced.

7. Quinnipiac (ECAC)

As if the pressure of becoming a top-five team got to Quinnipiac, it dropped games to Clarkson and St. Lawrence. Both opponents managed to keep Kahlen Lamarche from scoring, and both managed to solve Felicia Frank. The Bobcats need the rest of their roster to step up to get it done if they want to climb back in time for the playoffs.

8. Yale (ECAC)

They didn’t face particularly tough opponents in RPI and Union College, but Yale did exactly as it should, putting together two decisive wins. Seniors Carina DiAntonio and Jordan Ray have been exceptional for Yale in the second half of the season, upping both of their statuses for the PWHL draft.

9. Cornell (ECAC)

Cornell dropped a game to Harvard, which hurt, although it’s not Harvard’s first win this season against a ranked opponent. Cornell also shut out Dartmouth 5-0 with five different goal-scorers hitting the scoresheet. If Cornell could put together balanced offensive games like its win over Dartmouth more often, it could make some noise.

10. University of Minnesota-Duluth (WCHA)

It’s hard to explain the slide Minnesota-Duluth has gone on this month, earning only a single win in its last 10 games. Another weekend out of the win column and they’ll slide from the top 10 altogether. Facing a short-benched Ohio State, Minnesota-Duluth squandered a golden opportunity against a conference opponent. Time is running out for the Bulldogs as the playoffs approach.

• Deion Sanders recently told his Colorado football team about dousing broadcaster Tim McCarver with water in 1992.
• Sanders said he did it because McCarver had described him as selfish for playing both baseball and football.
• Sanders said he wanted to win the World Series MVP that year so McCarver would have to interview him.

Colorado football coach Deion Sanders told his team about the time he doused baseball broadcaster Tim McCarver with water in October 1992, calling it “wrong” but also saying “God had my back” about it.

Sanders brought up the infamous incident at a recent team meeting in Boulder, as documented by Reach The People Media, one of Sanders’ favored YouTube channels. Sanders told his team it was an example of being able to go back to a “dark place” in your past. He said, “God allows you to go into it so that you can understand who He is and his power and how He can bring you out of nothing and turn it into something.”

Sanders, 58, was playing baseball for the Atlanta Braves when he doused McCarver with tubs of water in the postgame locker room after the Braves won the National League Championship Series that year. He said it was revenge for comments McCarver previously made about Sanders that described Sanders as selfish for leaving the Braves to also play in the NFL with the Atlanta Falcons. The memory resurfaced for Sanders recently after apparently being asked about it for an upcoming film about Sanders on Netflix.

“My mother had told me this gentleman who just broadcast a game is talking about you real bad,” Sanders told his players. “And, you know, when mama talked to us like that, you act. I’m a Florida boy. Like we act immediately. So after we won the playoffs, I threw two buckets of water, which was wrong. Two buckets of water on him and doused him and doused him and doused him, and dousing them until he, you know, got upset about it. But I was thinking that he should have known his craft.”

Deion Sanders said ‘God had my back’ after Tim McCarver incident

He blamed McCarver for not doing his “homework” and not knowing Sanders’  contract with the Braves had been set to expire earlier that summer before he worked out a deal that allowed him to help the baseball team in its playoff push. Instead of being portrayed by McCarver as selfish, he said he thought it should have been portrayed as a “wonderful gesture” by him to continue playing with the team.

After dousing McCarver, the Braves advanced to the World Series to play the Toronto Blue Jays. Sanders played well against the Blue Jays, especially against Blue Jays pitcher David Cone. He suggested his success in that series was proof that God has his back about the McCarver incident. He hit .533 overall in that series with five stolen bases, but the Braves lost in six games.

“That hurt,” Sanders said of McCarver’s comments. “That hurt my mom. That hurt me. But lo and behold, God had my back. Why would I say God had my back? Because the opposing team was the Toronto Blue Jays that we played in the World Series had a pitcher on the team named David Cone. David Cone was a great pitcher. He should be in Hall of Fame. But David Cone, my lifelong average against him was about .600.”

Deion Sanders wanted to win MVP so Tim McCarver could interview him

Sanders said he would have been named World Series MVP if the Braves had won.

“But we lost,” Sanders said. “But I wanted to win so bad because that gentleman that was naysaying me (McCarver) would have had to interview me for being the MVP. And that’s what I wanted, but it didn’t happen that way. But we got into it.”

McCarver died in 2023 at age 81. After Sanders doused him with water in 1992, he confronted Sanders. “You’re a real man, Deion,” McCarver told him. “I’ll say that.”

Follow reporter Brent Schrotenboer @Schrotenboer. Email: bschrotenb@usatoday.com

Drake Maye is looking to join Tom Brady as the only quarterbacks to ever lead the New England Patriots to a Super Bowl victory.

As Maye prepares to do that, some of the guidance the legendary quarterback has given him over his career has been rattling around in his brain.

Maye was asked at Super Bowl opening night about the best advice he had received from Brady.

‘I’ve met Tom a few times, and one of the best things he said is there’s no shortcuts to it,’ Maye told reporters. ‘There’s no shortcuts to putting in the work. The proof’s in the pudding.’

‘Knowing that the shortcuts that people can try to take – it’s not worth it,’ he added. ‘Get the most out of what you put into it. He’s been great at that and he obviously showed that throughout his career.’

Brady earned a reputation as one of the NFL’s hardest workers during his fruitful 23-year career. He won a player-record seven Super Bowls across his 23 seasons and finished his career as the NFL’s all-time leader in passing yards (89,214) and passing touchdowns (649).

Maye is a long way away from matching Brady, but he showed immense improvement during his second NFL season. He completed 72% of his passes during the regular season for 4,394 yards, 31 touchdowns and eight interceptions while adding 450 yards and four touchdowns on the ground to play himself into the NFL MVP race.

Maye’s much-improved second season will culminate with him becoming the second-youngest quarterback to start a Super Bowl behind only Dan Marino. He will also have a chance to match Brady’s feat of earning his first Super Bowl ring in his second NFL campaign.

Even so, Maye isn’t yet entertaining any of the Brady comparisons he has drawn amid his first-ever Super Bowl run.

‘I appreciate his greatness,’ Maye said of Brady. ‘What he did for my team that I play for now, what he did for football, what he’s done for my position that I play. Just respect for how he played the game, how he wanted to win so bad, how he carried his teammates, how he led his teammates, how he approached the sport.

‘[I want to] pay respect to him, but not try to be him and just try to be myself.’

The Department of Justice released millions of files associated with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein on Jan. 30. Included in these files were emails exchanged by the disgraced financier and New York Giants co-owner Steve Tisch.

The NFL acknowledged it would ‘look into the matter’ in a statement released Feb. 2, just hours before NFL commissioner Roger Goodell’s annual state of the league address as part of Super Bowl opening night.

‘The league is aware of the reports and Steve’s response,’ the league said in a statement. ‘Our office will look into the matter to understand the facts.’

Goodell was asked to elaborate about the Tisch-Epstein connection and whether the 76-year-old Giants co-owner would be subject to the NFL’s personal conduct policy.

‘We are going to look at all the facts,’ Goodell said. ‘We’re going to look at the context of those and try to understand that. We’ll look at how that falls under the policy, but I think we take one step at a time. Let’s get the facts first.’

The emails show Epstein provided ‘scouting reports’ on multiple women to an account belonging to Tisch, whose email address was redacted in the files. Tisch asked in emails reviewed by The Athletic and USA TODAY if various women were ‘pros,’ ‘working girls’ or ‘civilians.’

In one of the exchanges, Tisch asks, ‘Curious about (redacted). I will contact (redacted). pro or civilian?’ Later in the correspondence, the same account states, ‘send me a number to call I don’t like records of these conversations.’

Several other email strings show Tisch’s account seeking additional information about specific women he met in New York. The emails, sent in 2013, also include an invitation from Tisch for Epstein to join him in his suite for a Giants game and various attempts for the two to meet up in New York, including invitations to go on walks and meet for lunches.

Tisch expressed regret about his his ‘brief association’ with Epstein in a statement released by the Giants shortly after the documents were made public.

‘We had a brief association where we exchanged emails about adult women, and in addition, we discussed movies, philanthropy and investments,’ Tisch said. ‘I did not take him up on any of his invitations and never went to his island. As we all know now, he was a terrible person and someone I deeply regret associating with.’

Tisch has been Giants chairman and co-owner since 2005. The 76-year-old movie producer has notably helped create several hit films – including ‘Forrest Gump’ and ‘Risky Business’ – and has a John Madden biopic, which stars Nicolas Cage, set to release in 2026.

Epstein died by suicide in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges.

USA TODAY Sports’ Eric Larsen also contributed to this report.